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Orville R. Bonnell, 95, of Pennsboro, died Thursday, May 31, 2018, at Camden Clark Medical Center, Parkersburg. He was born April 10, 1923. He was the only son of six children born in the family home at Berea, West Virginia, to the late E. Ray and Elsie Maxson Bonnell.
As a youth he became a Christian and was baptized. He was a long-time member of the Ritchie Seventh Day Baptist Church at Berea until it was closed due to lack of members. He later became a member of the Beason United Methodist Church near Pennsboro and is currently a member of Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church at Ellenboro.
Orville was a proud member of the 1940 graduating class of Pullman High School. He attended Mountain State Business College, Parkersburg, before transferring to a trade school in South Charleston. In December 1941, a few days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he and a large group of student-trainees were sent to Baltimore to work in the war effort. He was employed on the assembly line of the B-26 Bomber by the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Corp. He entered the US Navy in April 1943. He had his "Boot Camp" at Great Lakes, Illinois, with additional training there and at Norfolk, Virginia. He was assigned to an anti-mine warfare unit in Boston, Mass., for the remainder of his Navy career. He was honorably discharged as a Petty Officer 3rd Class in December 1945. He returned to Pennsboro and began immediate employment with Wright Wholesale Company, a Candy, Tobacco, and Notions Jobber. He purchased this company January 1, 1950, and rapidly expanded it into a full line wholesale grocery company, selling to stores and other businesses in Ritchie and surrounding counties. He was owner/operator until December 31, 1973, when he sold the company and semi-retired.
He was active in the Pennsboro Community being a Past President of the Pennsboro Businessmens Club and the Pennsboro Lions Club. He also served a year as the Ritchie County Red Cross Fund Raising Chairman. He was a member and Past Commander of Pennsboro Post 83, the American Legion, with a record of 70+ years continuous membership. He was a former member of many local, state, and national Masonic groups and served as the presiding officer of most of them. He was a long-time member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer of the Ritchie County Economic Development Corporation, Pennsboro Industrial Park, and the Ritchie County Agricultural Fair Association. In 1950 he was elected to the Board of Directors of The Community Bank of Pennsboro and served 38 years, 9 of which he was elected President of the bank and Chairman of the Board of Directors and during those years the first drive-thru bank in Ritchie County was built on the corner of Broadway and Masonic Avenues.
He had a life-long interest in aviation and in May 1955 bought his first airplane, a used 2 seat Aeronca which he used for flight instruction at the Benedum Field (Bridgeport-Clarksburg) and received his Pilots license in September of that year. He then moved his plane to Hoover Field at Harrisville where he continued his flying activities.
In April 1956 he bought a new four place Cessna 172 and had the privilege of going to the factory in Wichita, Kansas, and flying his own plane back to Harrisville. In April 1979 he bought the 210 acre farm of Everett Barnard, 3 miles south of Pennsboro near the Beason Bridge, where he and his father built a landing strip and constructed a hangar as a permanent home for his plane which he moved there on Labor Day of that year. He enjoyed taking friends and family for rides, many for the first time, and he often flew, in just over an hour, to Cleveland to the baseball games of the Cleveland Indians, occasionally taking along friends and/or family. He took great pride in never having an accident of any kind with his plane. In the spring of 1985, after 30 years, he felt it was time to give up his flying hobby and sold his plane.
On October 10, 1986, he married his wife, Bobbie. Together they built a lovely home on their farm, where they resided for the next 23 years, living a quiet and very happy life together hunting deer and wild turkey when in season. The farm became too much work and they sold it in 2009. They moved to the Main Street property in Pennsboro that he had originally built in 1966.
Orville is survived by his loving wife, Bobbie, of 31+ years, his very special stepson, Chris, his wife, Stephanie, his only grandson Benjamin, and his four- legged best friends, Abby and Doby. He is also survived by nieces, nephews, grand nieces, grand nephews, and numerous cousins. He was the last surviving member of his immediate family.
He was preceded in death, in addition to his parents, by all five of his sisters, Leona (Vincent) Barazzoni, Dorotha (Harlan) Hodge, Willa Dean (Robert) Spiker, Arleta (John) Bartlett, and Wilma (John) King.
There will be a Service of Commemoration as we remember and appreciate a very dear and special Christian, husband, stepfather, grandfather, family member, friend, veteran, aviator, business man, and jack of all trades at the Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church at Ellenboro Sunday, June 10, 2018, at 2:30 p.m. There will be fellowship before and after our service. He will be cremated and his ashes will be laid to rest with his wife, Bobbie, at the time of her interment. McCullough-Rogers Funeral Home of Pennsboro, WV is assisting the family with the arrangements.
Online condolences may be expressed to the family at www.mcculloughraiguel.com